


Loki and the Love Spell

by mwaters



Category: Norse Mythology, Thor (2011)
Genre: Bisexual Male Character, Incest, M/M, Magic, Mildly Dubious Consent, Mysticism, Norse Mythology - Freeform, Sibling Incest, Tricksters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-27
Updated: 2012-05-27
Packaged: 2017-11-06 03:20:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/414144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mwaters/pseuds/mwaters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jealous of Sif, Loki tries to enchant Thor into loving only him, with unforeseen consequences</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loki and the Love Spell

This is yet another story of Loki battling against Lady Sif for the affections of Thor. Except this time, his fight was not directly against her, though her very existence was a threat to him. For as strong as the love between the two princes was, the love between Thor and Sif seemed, at least to Loki, even stronger. He would have thought up ways to end her life or cause her banishment, if he did not fear Thor's wrath. And indeed, Loki had come very close to such extremes a few times. 

Many years ago, Loki had thought to turn Sif ugly in Thor's eyes by shearing off her radiant, golden hair that Thor had so admired. But this trick had only caused Loki more trouble, for the very next day, Thor had immediately guessed the culprit, and his anger caused the skies to darken and rumble. While his brother often let Loki get away with even the most malicious of pranks, this one he would not forgive so easily. Perhaps afraid to be struck down by lightning at that very moment, Loki had knelt before Thor and pleaded forgiveness. 

Even as afraid as he was, however, he had no remorse in his heart for his act, and Thor must have known this. No one in the realm could ever enslave the trickster's heart, and Thor had never attempted as such. 

But he did demand that Loki fix what he did. And so Loki traveled for days to seek help from Jirginmandif, the wise old crone of the forest, but she refused him, apparently offended by his cruel attack on a fellow woman. Loki then sought help from those at the Witch's Quarter, a sprawling collection of cities far from Odin's castle, and even farther from the old god's ideas of right and wrong. It was risk enough for Loki to be seen traveling to such a place, but as he went there often, he knew how to properly disguise himself. 

When, after days of inquiring and haggling and threatening, Loki still got nothing for his pains, he despaired. He knew he might as well remain the rest of his days at the Witch's Quarter rather than return home unable to appease his brother's fury. But just at that moment, when he was at his most miserable, a trio of sorcerers, each the twin of the other, and of unclear gender and age, approached Loki. They listened to his problem and agreed to help, because they so admired the prince known for his mischief.

Loki was delighted, and took the triplets back with him to the capitol city. The triplets had not mentioned anything about what price they expected at first, so Loki had not considered paying them, figuring the privilege of serving him was payment enough. But that night, just as they sat around Sif, waiting to perform their task, they asked Loki, their three voices singing out as one, “My Lord, what shall you pay us for this service?”

“You are doing your duty to Asgard, that is payment enough,” Loki answered, irritated to even be asked. He had been through enough already for the sake of his rival, he would not hand over gold as well. 

The sorcerer triplets had enough honor to complete their task, but they were deeply offended by Loki's greed. So when Loki left the room, they induced a peaceful sleep onto Sif and went to work, weaving her a brand new head of hair out of the very night itself. 

When morning broke, Sif revealed to her friends her new hair, which was of the deepest black, as inky and dark as a still stream under moonlight. It emanated a gentle, pleasant coolness, as forevermore, her head would be bathed in the cool evening air.

Loki's attention went immediately to Thor, expecting him to be horrified, for he had so loved Sif's golden hair. But to Loki's dismay, Thor was delighted. He seemed to fall in love with Sif all over again. And even though he immediately forgave his brother and showered him with grateful, loving kisses, Loki was miserable, for soon enough, Thor was once again joined at the hip with Lady Sif. 

After this, Loki spent months on end, deeply melancholy and withdrawn. Thor may never realize this, but this unending misery was a far worse punishment than anything Thor could have done to him. 

And so, even though he had so offended Jirginmandif with his crime in the first place, he returned to her, ready for anything, expecting nothing. 

An ignorant person first encountering Jirginmandif would possibly think her ugly, and indeed, she had a curved spine, frail, bowed legs, and a face deeply set with lines and signs of incredible age. But this was just one of her many forms. Though she was many centuries old, she could have easily appeared as a beautiful young woman. Both forms were equally valid, and she was equally strong in both. She just did not see her crone form as ugly as many others might, so she quite enjoyed expressing it.

In any case, this was the only form Loki had ever seen, and if he had thought her ugly for it, that mattered very little to him. She was useful, no matter how hideous. 

She did not lecture him about his cruelty to Sif, as that would have been useless. Though Loki had rarely discussed personal matters with her, she knew him well enough to understand the rivalry between himself and the beautiful Sif. Not to mention, the love Loki had for Thor, however poisonous it could be, was the stuff of legend all over Asgard.

Loki sat on a log at her feet and dropped his head in his hands, weeping immediately. He did not expect pity from her, but was unable to control his despair. He asked her if he could simply turn Thor's attentions towards himself, and away from Sif. 

“Would you wish your brother to forsake Sif and become besotted with you?”

“Yes! I wish for him to become so in love with me, so obsessed with me, that he will never even think of her or any other woman again! I wish him to be mine!”

Jirginmandif nodded, the sparse, white hair billowing about her head as she did so. She then disappeared into her house, which was made from the very trees and the rocks of her forest, for a very long time. Loki waited for three days and three nights for her to return. He was starving and shivering by the end of his wait, but, as Jirginmandif could plainly see, he was determined that this solution was the key to his happiness. 

She pressed a tiny rune stone into his hands and pressed her lips upon it. As instructed, Loki did the same. She explained that for those three days and three nights, she had knelt in meditation with the stone in her hands, pausing only to wet it with her tears, which were to impress upon it the misery of the heart-sick. And because she was a very, very old woman, she explained, her tears had great power.

She told him what to do with it and refused his offer of payment in a rare act of compassion for him. Then she retired into the forest to rest from her exhausting work, and Loki rode home, just as fatigued, but strengthened with hope.

That night, as instructed, he stole into his brother's bedchambers and approached the sleeping man's side. He noticed with a sneer that Sif was sleeping right next to him. Loki knelt on the floor and held his rune stone tightly in his hands. He offered it his tears, as inspired by looking upon the face of the one he desired but could not have, and pressed it upon Thor's still lips.

He then stood up and bent over Thor's sleeping form to whisper into his ear. Jirginmandif had warned him not to awaken Thor during this, or the spell would be shattered. Loki carefully held his dark locks backs, so they would not fall upon Thor’s face, and whispered words of love and eternal devotion, referring to himself in the third person, so Thor would not confuse the origin of such love. The purpose of this was to make Thor dream of Loki all night. And his dreams would be so pleasant and loving, that he would think of their source the next morning. 

But Loki had to do this every night, without interruption, until the moon had waned to nothing in the night sky. And actually, on the night that Jirginmandif had given Loki the stone and the instructions, the moon was not yet full. She had told Loki not to begin this process until it was full, for that was the best time to begin such things. That was when the feminine powers were the most open and accepting, and would be the most eager to assist Loki in his task. 

But Loki had not understood this, and was impatient to begin. He figured that his spell needed those extra nights to ensure its potency. He thought to bargain with the ways of the moon to suit his own ends. 

In any case, Loki did stop at the end of the moon's cycle--and he had whispered this was his last night of such dreams into Thor's ear--, and the next morning, he awoke to see Thor sitting on his bed, greeting him with a smile. Loki was startled at first, but as he realized that his spell had indeed worked, he happily rushed into his brother's waiting arms and spent the rest of that day in his company.

For the first few months, Loki was beside himself with incomparable joy. Thor was constantly at his side and endlessly loving. He neglected Sif, the Warriors Three, their Father, everyone. Only the presence of his brother seemed to bring him any peace. Loki had always known Thor to be a passionate lover, but was in for quite a surprise that first night. And after that first day, Thor could no longer wait for nightfall; he would carry Loki off to his bedchambers several times in the same day to love him in private. And while this constant physical attention was beginning to severely wear on Loki's body, he never tried to refuse Thor. He did not wish to. 

During the day, when they were not engaging in that rough, fervent sex Thor was so adept at and eager for, the two would spend all day doing whatever Loki wished. Never before could Loki interest Thor in his magic, but now Loki had his brother's rapt attention. Thor would even serve as an assistant when Loki wished to study new spells and potions. Indeed, Thor was very much like a slave, tirelessly eager to serve his brother.

Except he would not leave Loki alone for a moment. As the months drew on, this was beginning to tire Loki. He did not wish for Thor’s love to fade, and didn't even wish to lessen his vitality in bed, although that was beginning to cause him pain. He was just starting to wish that his brother could leave him alone every once in a while. He was starting to feel suffocated. 

So he tried sending Thor off on tedious tasks to keep him busy. One day he ordered Thor to build them a cottage far from the castle walls. Thor had returned not two hours later, explaining that he had already cleared the prefect spot in the forest in less than an hour, and set a team of workers to build the cottage for him. He said he cold have built it himself in a day, but that would have been a day spent without his brother. And that, Thor declared, was far too cruel a punishment. 

The next day, Loki commanded Thor to search for the mate to his slipper, which had been hand crafted especially for him the day he entered manhood. Loki had burned the left one, but of course did not tell Thor that. And yet Thor returned not an hour later with the exact same slipper Loki had thought he had destroyed. Thor explained that he had gone to the same cobbler and simply asked for it, and because it was such a simple design, he whipped it up quickly. 

It was clear, after several more of these foolish errands, that Loki could not keep Thor away. Even when Loki was sure he had trapped Thor with a command he could not fulfill, Thor would just return anyway and beg forgiveness. He would put up such a fuss, lamenting on his knees, begging and pleading, in plain view of strangers and friends alike, that Loki would have to relent out of sheer mortification. 

It didn’t take long after that for Loki to deeply regret what he had done. Now he was just as miserable as before, if not more, for now he was tormented by Thor's constant attentions. It seemed that Thor's arms were stitched around Loki's waist, and the thunder god had rubbed his bearded face against Loki's so much, his skin was raw. Thor never bedded Loki against his will, but not long after being told no, Thor would ask for it again. And when Loki did consent, either out of personal desire or because he thought that might appease Thor for a while, he found he could not last very long without screaming in pain. His body simply could not take so much so often. 

Eventually he realized he had to return to Jirginmandif, and he would have to confess to her that he had tried to cheat an extra few nights. That must be why the spell worked too well. But he could not allow for Thor to accompany him. No one from the castle knew of Jirginmandif's existence. Not that she would even allow herself to be seen by Thor. He had to think of a way to extricate himself from Thor's grip long enough to slip away followed. 

So one day, while Thor was momentary distracted by another of Loki's errands, Loki crushed a root into powder and slipped it into a stein of mead, which he gave to Thor when he came back. As expected, Thor downed the contents in one mighty chug, and hit the floor before he could take a breath.

Loki sped out to the stables and tore off into the forest, knowing he had only a few hours before Thor would awaken. That gave him the chance, at last, to lose himself. By nightfall he arrived at Jirginmandif's house and pounded at her door. Just as he was when he came to her almost a year earlier, he was sobbing and wretched. She laughed at his story and then told him that once the heart was swayed like this, it could not be swayed back. For Loki's spell had only planted the seeds of love into a man who already had a great love for him. There was no escape from this, and in fact Thor would begin searching for him soon. Knowing Thor, Loki would not be safe from him anywhere on Asgard. 

At this grim prediction, Loki wailed and cursed himself for stealing those extra nights.

Unmoved by Loki's tears, which never had any effect on her anyway, Jirginmandif asked sternly, “What extra nights?”

“I could not wait as you instructed,” he explained miserably. “I could not bear to see him happy with her a day longer, so I began the process that very night.”

At this Jirginmandif shook with a laughter far stronger and brighter than her decrepit body seemed to be able to endure. But just as she was able to leap and run and lift trees with her bare hands in this feeble looking form, she could laugh as a young woman could. 

“You heartless old crone!” Loki spat. “This is all your fault! If you had not-”

“And you are a naïve little fool!” she said, with a coldness in her voice that inspired Loki into silence. “You cannot cheat the moon! You cannot bargain with her laws! It is you who have been tricked, trickster. Because of your deceit, the spell did not work.”

Loki lifted his head and stared at her. “But...it must have! Thor has been...” And as his face crumpled into a furious grimace at the realization, Jirginmandif cackled once again. Consumed by rage, Loki got up and brushed right past his mentor and rode hard back to the castle, where Thor was waiting for him. 

Thor stood by his horse as Loki rode up to him and dismounted. The brothers shared an intense gaze for a moment, before Loki howled in rage. “You tricked me! This whole time, you knew, you knew! How dare you?”

But Thor was unimpressed. He crossed his arms and looked smug. “How can you complain, brother? Did you not get exactly what you wanted?”

“That was not love! That was...insanity!”

“No, Loki, that was what you wanted. You wanted me obsessed with you, you wanted for my only thoughts, my only desires to be of you, so that I could never even think of anyone else but you. That is what you seem to think love has to be, brother!” 

Loki beat Thor upon his chest, an act of desperate frustration which brought Thor no pain. He was sobbing harder than ever. “I only wanted you to love me! Even since you fell in love with Sif, she is all you care about! You have forsaken me, and you don't even care how lonely and depressed I am! And now, you spend a year in mocking me...you must have such hatred for me after all.” 

Thor took hold of Loki's arms and forced them around his waist. He held him tightly and would not let him wriggle free. “You are wrong, brother,” he said as he leaned his face against the top of Loki's head. “For I do love you, and always have. My love for my Lady Sif cannot lessen my love for you, just as the sun's love for the daisies of the meadow cannot subtract from his love for us who grow warm beneath him. If you wanted me to spend more time with you, all you had to do was ask, and I would have been happy to obey.”

Loki's sobs lessened to sniffles as he realized this must be true. Now he clung to Thor, rather than tried to break free. “But, the spell. All of this was just an act. You tormented me for months!”

Thor laughed softly and lifted Loki's face with his hand to gaze upon it. “It is true that I deceived you into thinking your witchcraft had worked. But none of the affection I showed you was fake, brother. I may have pretended more zeal in completing your ridiculous orders than I actually felt, but all the love, all the passion...that was real. And I must admit I quite enjoyed it.”

“Even when it became too much?”

“I knew that eventually, you would find a way to cheat out of it, and you have.” Thor was smiling. He knew his brother too well to judge him every time he was dishonest. He kissed Loki's brow. “But it did pain me to know I was causing you such grief, even though you deserved it. And I am sorry for that.”

“I suppose you shall go back to Sif, now that you have so thoroughly put me in my place,” Loki said bitterly. 

“Well, wouldn't you like a break from me?” Thor asked with a warm laugh. When Loki broke into an unwitting smile, Thor added, “I shall not completely ignore you, but I shall give you a chance to recover from my brutal affections. And when you desire my company once more, brother, all you need do is seek me out.”

“And what of Sif?”

“I fear that you two may never come to an understanding,” Thor answered, but he seemed rather proud that he had two lovers constantly at war over him. “But she understands better now that the bond you and I share can never be broken, no matter how bitterly we may fight, no matter what disaster should befall either of us. We are bound to each other forever.”

“How grim,” Loki said with a smirk. 

Thor wiped the tears off his brother's eyes and pulled his chin closer to kiss him. And even though Loki was looking forward to spending a long time alone to recover from that year of madness, he was happy to enjoy those few minutes sheltered in Thor's arms.

When the two parted, Loki glanced up to the sky and offered the moon a rueful smile before heading inside.


End file.
